the girl who obsessively loves everything.

Tag: comics

Oh. My. Gourd. You guys. These last couple months have been a total ride. I just wanted to pop in with a few major life updates & some proclamations, because dammit somebody needs to keep me accountable!

New Adventures

First of all, I’m so excited to announce that after nearly a year of contemplation, I have taken the plunge to become a Stella & Dot Independent Stylist! If you don’t know what Stella & Dot is, it is a direct-sales jewelry & accessories company with HELLA cute pieces that I seriously cannot get enough of.

I have been such a fan of every. single. collection Stella & Dot has put out over the last year, and I finally just swallowed my fear about direct sales & decided to go for it! It’s been about a week since I signed up, and I’m already so grateful that I didn’t let my hesitations hold me back (for once). This is going to be awesome. Seriously, look at these beauties!

Now, you might think that this is going to drastically change the content of my blog? My intention is that it absolutely will not. I love blogging about my life, books, and fandoms. This will continue to be the place for that. Of course, my selfies will likely start featuring more jewelry than the absolutely zero I currently own – and I’m going to put up a banner to my website over in the sidebar – but the biggest change this is going to bring is an opportunity for fun jewelry giveaways! Can’t complain about that, right? RIGHT?

Anyway, most of my updates are going to be found on my Facebook page, which you should most certainly go & like, to keep up on things!

Speaking of Giveaways…

I’ve got a great giveaway coming your way in December! Just gotta get the post written up & published – hopefully you’ll be seeing that on the first! I’ll give you a hint. It’s something I was TRULY obsessed with this year & I am SO. EXCITED. to be giving it away!

TBR Pile

So, I’ve paced down since September, which I’m convinced was a total fluke with the number of books I read. Obviously, in October I only read 2 books. and so far this month I’ve only read HALF of ONE (and 2/3 of an audiobook). I’m hoping having some good time off from work for Thanksgiving next week helps me get back into a groove, because I really loved the feeling of accomplishment I had at the end of September! My end-of-2015 TBR goes as-follows:

November

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (currently reading)

You’re Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day (currently listening)

Nimona

The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Sons of Thestian by ME Vaughan

——

December

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Bitch Planet vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (re-read)

My True Love Gave to Me by Various

Realistically, I realize I’m definitely not going to read all of these by the end of the year. But it makes me feel good to be overly ambitious.

Book Club

If you have been keeping up, you may have noticed that we have kind of scaled down the hype around AdultBooklr over the last couple months. Lots of our members & admins went back to school & we just haven’t had the time to implement many of the features we’ve been wanting to try out. We’ll get there, though. It’s just going to take one really good planning pow-wow, and we’ll have a 2016 gameplan to knock your socks off! 🙂

Planning

Speaking of PLANNING, have you seen the limited edition 2016 Passion Planners? If you haven’t seen the Kickstarter campaign, you are seriously missing out. They are perfect & you can still get your hands on one through the end of this weekend! Just check out the Campaign & know that any money you spend with this company is going to be used to help people.

Super-DUPER Secret Project

Lastly, ba-ba-BAAAAA!! I want to announce that I’ve got a collaborative, super-secret project in the works. Unfortunately, I can’t say more than that right now, but there should be a sneak peek available for you by early January (fingers crossed) so STAY TUNED, lovers!

What have you all been up to lately? I’ve been so out of the blogging loop! Let’s touch base, please! 🙂

Until Next Time ❤

Hello again! I’m back. I told you I’d be back and, while I’m a little late, I AM here! I figured I’d just ease myself back into this whole thing today with a quick little obsessions post, because my body has the worst timing & decided to come down with its second case of bronchitis this year – YAY! Not…

So I’ve got a whole month to catch up on with obsessions, but I’ll try to keep things to a minimum today…key word: try.

First of all – BOOKS

So, this was an AdultBooklr August read-along that I started on September 1 because I’m a slacker. Regardless, I cannot tell you how many times I was reading this book and laughed out loud. I mean really, REALLY loudly. I highlighted something like 25 lines throughout this book. I loved it so much. I have a full review coming, so I don’t want to spill all my thoughts here, but holy crap. I loved this book. I kept turning to my husband to say “you HAVE to read this book”, “PLEASE tell me you’ll read this book?”, or “it would make me SO happy if you would read this book”. He’s probably tired of hearing it. Too bad. It’s so good. So, y’all gotta read it 🙂

The moment so many of us have been waiting for! The 4th installment in the Throne of Glass series was released on September 1, and I cannot wait to read it! I pre-ordered the UK paperback from The Book Depository, which has not arrived on my doorstep yet, BUT I did get a Kindle copy from my library just this morning (eep!), so I’m FREAKING out! I’m actually about 30% of the way through Assassin’s Blade right now, because I didn’t expect to get my hands on Queen of Shadows until closer to the 15th. So now I’m going to be power reading Assassin’s Blade today so I can hopefully start Queen of Shadows tonight and AHHHH! I’ve heard some rather discouraging things about this installment, so I’m a tiny bit worried, BUT still open-minded. If you want to follow along with my escapades, check out my #OGFQoS tag on Tumblr or the Unofficial AdultBooklr Read-Along thread on Goodreads!

COMICS

The official AdultBooklr read-along graphic novel for September is volume 1 of The Wicked + The Divine. I’ve had this trade for a couple months, now, and just picked it up a couple weeks ago, after we had selected it as our read-along for September. I still haven’t actually finished it, because I got distracted by The Martian, but I’ve only got one issue left in the first volume & then I also own the 2nd and all the current single issues, so I can get all the way caught up! This series is based on a really unique premise of 12 Immortals, who return to Earth once per century to live among the humans for 2 years before they die. This event is called “The Recurrence”, and is the basis for the whole series. I don’t have much more information beyond that, except that it’s exciting & unpredictable and the artwork is just utter perfection. Highly recommend.

August’s AdultBooklr graphic novel read-along was Batgirl of Burnside by Cameron Stewart, with art by Babs Tarr. I was late on this read-along, as well, but instantly fell in love with Barbara & this storyline of hers. I’m constantly mesmerized by Babs Tarr’s artwork, and have been a fan of hers for a while now. I have the newer issues of this run, as well & I’m really looking forward to reading them.

So, Wanda’s getting a new solo arc this fall and you know that makes me hella excited. I love her redesign by Kevin Wada and this cover by David Aja. I can’t wait to see what Marvel does with her. Again, I’m a little bit skeptical, but still optimistic. They did make some pretty huge changes to the character’s origin story, which is super obnoxious. Thanks, copyright. Bah.

LIFESTYLE

Hellooooo, new favorite subscription box! Ok, I’ve done a bunch of different subscriptions over the last couple years & this one takes the freaking cake. FabFitFun is a quarterly box that combines fitness, lifestyle, and beauty products into one. Every box is the same, but they jam nearly $250 worth of products into a $50 box every 3 months, and it is AWESOME. Take a look at their summer box:

I actually loved this box so much that I ordered one for me & then a 2nd for my BFF as a birthday gift! The necklace alone is worth over $100. I got the yellow gold version with a moon pendant, and Kristi got the rose gold version with a horseshoe pendant. We both love them & I’m so excited to see what’s in the Fall box, which ships in a couple weeks! If you’re interested in checking out this service, you can get $10 off your first box withthis link!*

*I have not been paid or sponsored by FFF. I just REALLY love this box <3.

Yep. Still loving my Passion Planner! Thought I’d bring it up again, because we’re closing in on the end of the year AND they’ve been having lots of flash sales on their Academic planners! I’m finally working out an effective system & I need to do my August reflections/ September goal-setting and I’ll be writing up a thorough review in the near future!

TECHNOLOGY

I almost never pay for my apps. I don’t really see the point. BUT, I found this cute photo editor app & loved the different options it gives. PLUS, one of my credit cards has iTunes rewards, so I just recently received a $25 iTunes gift card, so it didn’t REALLY feel like spending money on an app. Anyway, Check out some of the cute edits I’ve done with this app! There’s a free version, too, by the way! You just get ads & a few less features. Still a totally great app, though!

This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Osmo is simple. It’s an iPad accessory that turns your tablet into an interactive game system. You get a stand and a little mirror attachment that hooks over your camera, as well as some Tanagram pieces & a set of both red & blue letter tiles. You then you download their free apps to play. There’s a Tanagrams game, multiple Word games, Physics games, and even an Art studio game. My mother-in-law bought this for Kiddo’s birthday and we have been having a BLAST with it. Check out the video below for more information!

Ah yes. Last, but CERTAINLY not least. BB-8 is the newest addition to the Star Wars Droid family. In case you hadn’t heard, Sphero has developed a remote-controlled version of the little guy with some seriously cool features. You can control him via any iOS or Android device, he responds to your voice, you can record and display holographic messages, he’s got an autonomous setting, and he has an adaptive personality. I have watched a number of BB-8 demos, and wanted to order one more than ANYTHING on Force Friday (September 4). Unfortunately, the price tag was a little high at $150. BUT THEN I GOT A SURPRIIIIISE today, when my husband informed me he ordered one!! We’ll have our very own BB-8 this time next week! Booyah ( yes, that just happened. deal with it)

Whew. OK, so I didn’t do a GREAT job being brief today, but I’ve had a lot of time to obsess without talking about it! It’s been a MONTH, you guys! A whole month where I didn’t write a thing. Nothing. It feels good to be back 🙂

How about you? What’ve you been up to since I disappeared? I’d love to hear from you!

What? Don’t you own a pair of nerd pants? I suppose if you mean LITERALLY, then neither do I. But if I found some & had money, I would totally buy some. Whatever they may look like. My figurative nerd pants get worn a LOT, however. This week I’m pretty much nerding out 24/7 over something or another, so obviously I want to share with you, my lovely readers.

COMICS

I finally started reading some comics other than Saga (but I did re-read Saga vol. 1 for the AdultBooklr graphic novel read-along for July…). What I’m reading now:

With the release of issue #22 (finally), it seemed like a good time to pick up this series. Did not hurt that Amazon ran a flash sale on the Kindle version of this volume for only $2.99 in their “pre-Prime-Day-madness”. Honestly, the deals leading up to Prime Day were so much better than the ACTUAL prime day deals. But we don’t need to talk about that. Anyway, this is freaking GREAT. And I’m only one issue into it.

I have been hearing about Sex Criminals since the first day I picked up a comic book. I’m only about halfway through this volume, but it’s amazing. And the art is gorgeous-o. It’s a totally different kind of storytelling than I have ever read before. It’s more conversational & I’m really enjoying it.

MOVIES

So, obviously, we saw Ant-Man. I really liked it. My review from yesterday breaks it down, but I had to plug it here anyway 🙂

SWATH

I’m PRETTY sure I’ve mentioned SWATH before, but we just had yet another tournament over the weekend, and I usually ride that high for a couple weeks afterwards. This month’s tournaments were: The Tournament of Aces (Pilots from all different fandoms battling it out in Gunstar crafts from StarFox), The Tournament of Sidekicks (self-explanatory), and an all-cartoon tournament we called The Big Papa Crowley Tournament. I live-tweeted the madness & have started compiling a highlight reel from the evening.

In addition to the tournament, I have spent the last couple days working on getting our Tumblr page up and running, so y’all can follow us for nerdy goodness (shameless self-promotion…deal with it). If you’re super confused over what we do, check out the about page.

ORGANIZATION

I’m a nerd for organization & stationery. It’s certainly a different kind of nerdiness, but totes still counts. I bought myself a Passion Planner last week, which I talked about on last week’s list. Well, it arrived & I could not love it more. I’ll do a whole post about it once I’ve used it consistently for more than 2 days, but right now I’m 150% onboard with Passion Planner. Here’s my first two days-worth of planning notes. I’m using it to track what I have actually DONE rather than planning out my days in advance. This way I can go back & see where I’m wasting all my time & hopefully make myself more productive in the long haul.

In addition to the Passion Planner, I ordered these disposable fountain pens by Pilot and holy crap if they aren’t my favorite pens I’ve ever used. Shout out to singingktp for finding them in a stationery shop & gushing about them to me. They write so smoothly & don’t bleed through even cheap notebook paper (unless you really saturate it). If you’re into pens, get these. Seriously.

Annnd that’s about it for this week. I’d love to hear anything you guys have been up to lately! I know I’ve been super MIA, but I’m working on getting myself ahead of the ball with posts so there’s no more radio silence on my end!

Announcement! I’m taking a hiatus – just for this week – to finish getting things set up with AdultBooklr! We’ve got all kinds of things planned & I need to get my butt out of our 24/7 chat so I can actually get stuff done for all our wonderful members.

In case you missed it last week, AdultBooklr is a Goodreads/Tumblr crossover community founded by yours truly on the hallowed date of June 11, 2015. The only requirements for membership are that A) You are over 18; B) You love books; and C) You have a tumblr account. That’s it! If you meet these qualifications, come check out what I feel is the greatest place on the internet.

Not convinced? Let me tell you more.

Over 350 members in our Goodreads group and over 100 in our 24/7 live chat.

At least now the world knows. YES. Iowa – little old, in the middle of the country, surrounded by cornfields, home to James T. Kirk & Clint Barton, Iowa – can most definitely support a large-scale comic convention. The weekend was so successful that Wizard World has already announced their return in May of 2016. 3-Day Passes sold out weeks before the event (much to the detriment of one procrastinating blogger) and Saturday passes were sold out by Friday. People have wanted this for so long and we had something to prove to those Wizard World Execs. Pretty sure we nailed it.

Based on my experience, the event was very well-organized & the venue was highly conducive to the flow of such a convention. Vendors and Artists set up booths in the main exhibition area, while celebrity meet-and-greets/photo-ops were housed in a smaller, adjacent area. Panels could be accessed either from an escalator within the photo-op area or via the main escalators in the lobby. The smaller breakout rooms were packed & made it easy to find whichever panel guests were interested in attending.

I’m thrilled by the success of this event and cannot wait to return year after year. It’s a single step towards getting all kinds of large-scale events to come to the Midwest AND for showing the world what kind of crazy fun us nerds can have when we all come together to celebrate our fandoms.

And now, the weekend in photographs:

Friday

We spent the majority of Friday just exploring the exhibition floor & getting in lots of selfies with our favorite cosplayers. I met the greatest Spock impersonator I’ve ever seen & obviously HAD to get a photo. I was honestly a little intimidated (dude was 6’7″!) and maybe acted a bit of a fool, but whatever. Happens, right? I was excited.

My girl KiT & I made one large sweep of the autograph area, where we ran into Miss Iowa 2014, Autumn Weaver, dressed as Wonder Woman! She is such an inspiration & a total doll. I spied her on Saturday dressed as Slave Leia (I think it was her) and then again as a member of Starfleet.

There were a number of Clark Kents floating around, but this was by far the best. I was really struggling with my camera here, thus the ridiculous faces.

When we headed back to the bar, we ran into this all-female Guardians of the Galaxy group & definitely had to get a picture. And then hubby snuck up on us & gave us the best photobomb of the weekend. Because of course hubby was at the bar. I should have known.

The best part of Friday, though, was ABSOLUTELY the 41st Chapter of the Mandalorian Mercs, Vhett Manda Clan, who were taking bounties & arresting members of parties for a small donation to their charity. We arrested KiT’s husband since we had lost them & didn’t feel like scouring the hall to find them. Instead we paid $5 & waited for them to come to us.

Hahaha. I giggled for a long time.

After the convention closed for the night, we all went out for a group dinner at Quinton’s (because Zombie Burger had a 1.5 hour wait…obviously). Look how cute we are!

Saturday

Saturday was the only day any of us Cosplayed, and we had 3 very different characters. One of these times, we’ll have to figure out a group thing, I think.

I have to say, for pulling hubby’s costume together so last-minute (we’re talking Wednesday night), I’m pretty damn proud of myself on this one. I give you: Matt Murdock (and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, just for good measure).

I had never done SFX makeup before, but I’d say this turned out pretty rad. I did a couple trial runs on myself Thursday night, just to make sure I knew what I was doing. I still had a few difficulties with the prosthetic Saturday morning, but it all came together in the end 🙂

Of course, then you’ve got my iteration of Days of Future Past Quicksilver! This was a costume hubby wore for Halloween last year, but since I wanted to color my hair silver anyway, I decided to just hijack the costume. We even found my twinsie (although from a different universe) and I slowed down long enough to get a photo. The rest of the day I must have been moving too fast, because I don’t have any other pics of my cosplay. Oops.

Of course, then you have the most in-character cosplayer of the day: our Joker, aka RyanTheGr8. He was hamming it up for the camera all day. The kids loved him (except for the one that screamed bloody murder….oops) and the professional photographers loved him, so he’s in a bunch of official Wizard World photos from the weekend, too.

Here’s that time he found the rest of his villain buddies & Batman.

And that time he got his head chopped off by Revan.

That time he got REALLY excited about finding Carmen San Diego & Waldo.

That time he protested against vegetarianism with Poison Ivy.

And that other time I slowed down enough to be caught on camera.

Haul

Last, but not least, my comic con haul – not as big as I would have expected, but that’s probably for the best considering our current financial situation:

My first and only purchase on Friday was this Spike Funko! I mean, obviously.

We passed the Colorworldbooth on Friday & I just KNEW I needed to buy something from them, so I rushed back over on Saturday. We found out they had a discount for people who have the ConTV app (which I do), meaning I got a free paper print with my purchase of 2 bookmarks (which only cost $5 total)! These bookmarks are AMAZING. They are printed on aluminum & appear holographic. They’re just gorgeous. I got a Boba Fett (which I don’t have a pic of) and this Hermione Patronus one. I’m super obsessed & will probably buy more from them in the future. Also, the Colorworld book sounds so interesting & is now on my TBR.

The paper print I chose from the Colorworld shop was this Super Smash Bros. print – it’s so epic & will look great in our guest room, but it did get a little bent before I had the chance to buy a protector for it. Womp womp. Hopefully it won’t be noticeable in its frame. If so, I’ll just have to go ahead & buy another. Because I lurrrrve it.

Sorry for the absurdly long post today, but it was such a great weekend. I don’t even think I recapped 60% of it here, but these are the only photos I ended up with. Lol. SOOO that’s what you get. Because I’m a bad blogger. It’ll be better next time, I promise!

Woo! So I was going to do something a little different today, but it’s going to take more time than I had anticipated to put it together. Hopefully it turns out well & becomes a regular feature I can do here. Ooooh surprises! I hope to have it done by next week for y’all 🙂

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is Most Anticipated Releases For The Rest of 2015 – and boy, do I have a few of THOSE suckers. A few of them have come up in my Waiting on Wednesday posts, but most of the ones I’d posted for that have already been released this year (YAY!) so there are quite a few new ones on this list!

Hey, y’all! It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for me to geek out a little for you & share some of the stuff I’m obsessing over riiiiiiiight now! And, go:

BOOKS

Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy by Sam Maggs

Bought this for myself since a certain hubby of mine dropped the ball on Mother’s Day *cough, cough*. It turned out just fine, though, because not only did I end up getting new books guilt-free, but I also got the experience of browsing all the glorious shelves at the bookstore – so maybe he didn’t fail so much as really, really win?

ANYWAY. I knew I needed this book from the moment I first heard about it, so I picked it up last Thursday at Barnes & Noble since it just came out Tuesday. I’ve only read a couple chapters, but I’m LITERALLY (not using this ironically…this is NOT a drill…this is LITERAL) squealing for joy every 5 minutes & I can’t stop reading passages to my husband. I feel as though this book was written just for me and it speaks to my soul on a level no non-fiction book has ever reached. Reading Fangirl’s Guide has been one of the most exciting experiences of this year, because it just feels SO. GOOD. to feel understood. ❤ ❤ ❤ *squees for days*

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Since I finished Ready Player One last week, it was time to move on to the next book on my TBR pile. I picked this up last night & blasted through the first 50 pages before I became incoherent & fell asleep with it open on my chest. I love books that just dive right into the story – it’s always a little disorienting to try and world-build when you’re not getting the setting & character development up front, but it’s so much fun when those gaps start to fill in as little pieces are revealed through an action-packed narrative. I’m dying to get out of work today so I can go home & keep going. This book is rad as hell so far.

INTERNET

Bad Blood Music VIdeo

Who isn’t freaking out about this? It’s full of SO. MUCH. AWESOME. I can’t stand it. I’ve been humming Bad Blood for days, now, and I’m still not sick of it. T.Swift’s life game is so on-point it’s ridiculous. Every time she puts out a new music video, my love for 1989 is renewed & I listen to it on repeat for weeks. Can’t wait for September, when I get to see her in Minneapolis!

Anna Kendrick: Indiana Jones??

Wait. Why isn’t this real? Can studio execs please watch this & realize that the world NEEDS Anna Kendrick to be the next Indiana Jones? Supposedly the next installment has been “in the works” since early last year, but it doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction with production. Maybe what they need is not just a “reboot”, but a complete makeover? The kind that comes with a little more estrogen & snark? Either that, or just scrap the project all together because I’m not exactly interested in regurgitated story lines with younger versions of the original cast. Give me Anna Kendrick as Indiana Jones & then maybe, idk, throw Chris Pratt in there for good measure? Cuz who wouldn’t want to see that? I’ll stop now. Just watch the video. Because it’s glorious.

Movies

Avengers: Age of Ultron [Scarlet Witch]

Finally went back & saw this for a second time on Saturday (the first time was opening night & I missed a good chunk of the movie from being sleepy/tipsy on my birthday). Now, I’m not exactly obsessing over the movie as a whole, but I can.not. stop thinking about every major Wanda moment in the film. I missed them ALL the first time around, so when she started doing real magic – I got GOOSEBUMPS, guys. Legit, shivery goosebumps. I’m such a huge fan of Scarlet Witch – it started when I dressed as her for Halloween last year – and I was SO excited to see her come to life on screen. I know there has been a lot of controversy regarding the casting of Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda, since she is neither Romani nor Jewish, but I have to say – I think she nailed it. And I am pumped to see her in Cap 3. I hope they bring in the full costume, though – it’s just not Scarlet Witch without the headpiece!

Comics

A-Force

A-Force #1 is out today, and I’m headed down to the comic book shop to pick up my copy the instant I get out of work. Just check out all those AMAZING variant covers!

BEAUTY

This photo set is utter perfection. All those beautiful shades! I need to get all over making my hair a different color. It’s just time.

It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s list had me stumped for a little while because while I’d LOVE to meet any author of any book I’ve ever read, there are only a small handful of ones I obsess over. However, once I loosened my grip on the definition of “author”, I was able to fill in the remaining gaps. 🙂

JK Rowling. Author of my favorite series & just generally a genius. I’d love to interact with someone who has so much imagination that she can create a world as rich & complete as Harry Potter.

Kiera Cass. My next favorite series – especially after reading The Heir. I would spend most of my time fangirling & begging her to tell me whether the cliffhanger at the end of The Heir turns out OK or not! OMG. Seriously.

Ransom Riggs. The Miss Peregrine books were definitely my favorites I read last year. This is another instance of a rich & wholly complete world that has come from somebody’s imagination & I just want to pick that person’s brain to figure out how you even DO that.

Ernest Cline. Currently reading Ready Player One. I honestly don’t have much experience with Ernest Cline’s work, other than that. But what I’ve read of RP1 has already made me want to meet him. I’m sure we’d have plenty to talk about.

Ted Dekker. Ted Dekker was my favorite author all through high school. Honestly, his books are probably the only reason I SURVIVED high school. His stories are filled with suspense and wars on morality. There are heavy religious undertones (which was fine for a girl who spent 3 nights a week in church) and lessons about persistence and martyrdom. I’m actually re-reading some of his stuff this year & I still enjoy it just as much, even though I’m not nearly as religious as I once was.

Brian K. Vaughan. I’m such a huge fan of Brian K. Vaughan’s body of work. He may not be a “novelist”, but he is sure as hell an author. Between Saga, The Runaways, Y: The Last Man, and his work on things like Buffy Season 8, I’d just want to hang out with him for a day. We’d get some coffee & come up with a new story to tell. On that note…

Joss Whedon. Totally counts. Forget about the controversy right now & just appreciate Joss for Joss. I do. ❤ The only reason he’s so low on the list is because it’d be cheating to put him up high when his primary career is not “author”. But I’d give nearly anything to hang out with him for a day.

Richelle Mead. I’ve only read the Vampire Academy & Bloodlines series, but I’m fully obsessed with them both. I didn’t realize how vast her body of work is until recently when I started looking into other series to dive into. Someone who can produce such a high volume of HIGH QUALITY fiction is definitely someone I want to meet.

George R.R. Martin. I haven’t READ any of the Song of Ice & Fire books. I will someday, but I hate the feeling of waiting for a new release, so without even having a release date, I’m just not willing to get myself in that situation. I’d still like to meet the man behind Westeros, though. And maybe try to kick his ass into gear on cranking out that new book. Haha.

Hannah Hart. My dream BFF. I love everything about her. This was a no-brainer. I’m just glad she wrote a book so I could put her on this list 🙂

Honorable Mention: Veronica Roth. So I can punch her in the face. Not joking. She ruined an entire month for me. Well, ok. I’d at least give her a stern talking-to.

How about you? Any authors you’re just dying to meet? Let me know in the comments!

I don’t feel like I buy or receive enough books to do a monthly book haul. Most of the books I read I end up getting from the library. I definitely envy those of you with beautiful bookshelves lined with hard copies of your favorite books. I’ll get there some day. My collection will just take a little longer to amass.

I did get quite a few new books (and comics!) over the course of the last 4 months, though. So I thought I’d share my haul for the whole of January-April 2015!

BOOKS

First up, this GORGEOUS edition of Neverending Story that my mom got me for my birthday! I’m so obsessed with it I almost don’t want to read it for fear of ruining it. I don’t think that will stop me in the long-run, though. I’ll just be suuuuuper careful.

The other two, I bought for myself – which I almost NEVER do, so yay! I picked up Throne of Glass and The Alchemist 25th Anniversary Edition on a trip to Barnes & Noble with my mom. I’m so, so excited to start reading Throne of Glass, since everybody and their mother is obsessed with it – I really just want to join that party. And this edition of The Alchemist is freaking gorgeous with the cutout on the front cover & the deckle edge. I was too in love with the way it looks to pass it up. Plus, it’s on my Popsugar 2015 Reading List as a book that was published in the year of my birth. So, win-win!

Also, every single one of these fandom items has been acquired since December of last year, so I thought I’d throw them in the photo, too. You might think my Luna Lovegood wand is my favorite, but it’s actually Mr. Pointy. How many people do you know with a Mr. Pointy??

Apparently I completely forgot about this as I was photographing my other books, but I picked up this copy of Fairest of All when we were at Disney World. I was really surprised when I took the dust jacket off to see the old hag underneath. I might leave the jacket off because I love it so much. I will admit that I was a little disappointed because we went to another shop immediately after I bought this & I found The Beast Within, which the first shop didn’t carry. I probably would have rather had that one, but I can always pick it up later 🙂

E-BOOKS

Oh! Let’s not forget about e-books! I do stock up on Kindle books pretty frequently, thanks to the Pixel of Ink newsletter! Yeah, ok. I didn’t realize how many e-books I get until I started compiling this list. Here’s everything I’ve added to my Kindle since January, in chronological order.

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

The Memory Game by Sharon Sant

Someone Else’s Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts

The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

A Brush with the Moon by Raquel Lyon

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Insanity (Mad in Wonderland) by Cameron Jace

Imperfectly Perfect by A.E. Woodward

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

Wearing the Cape: The Beginning by Marion G. Harmon

Riser by Becca C. Smith

Queenie Baby: On Assignment by Christina A. Burke

Modern Women by Ruth Harris

Vampire in Denial by Dale Mayer

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Witch Hunt by Devin O’Branagan

The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter by Jennifer Malone Wright

Cress (Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

Sora’s Quest by T.L. Shreffler

The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Kody Keplinger

Me and my Ghoulfriends by Rose Pressey

Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson

Audrey’s Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Lost Girl:Hidden Book One by Colleen Vanderlinden

Airel: The Awakening by Aaron Patterson

PLUS, I signed up for Kindle Unlimited & added all the Harry Potter books to my library ❤ So, as far as new reading material goes, I’m not exactly hurting… Ha.

So I read the first 4 volumes of Saga in trade from my library and then made sure to get it on my pull list at the comic book shop. I actually ended up with 2 copies of issue 25 because mine was back-ordered & I couldn’t wait – so I ordered one from eBay. Totally worth it, though. I’m so in love with this series. I just read issue 27 last week and, while it slowed things down a LOT from the previous issues, I do think it’s a necessary lull & I still love it. I’m not even gonna get into it, because I could write an epic saga about my love for Saga. And that’d just be saga-ception. Which sounds dangerous. (I fangirl so hard over Fiona Staples)

I have heard incredible things about The Wicked + The Divine, so I ordered the first trade & put it on my pull list. I haven’t started reading the trade yet, but I did thumb through & slobber over the artwork by Jamie McKelvie & Matt Wilson. I don’t think I’m going to start reading until I get my hands on issues 6-8, so I can just binge read the whole thing in one sitting. 🙂

Last, but most CERTAINLY not least, is my itsy bitsy Spider Gwen collection (ha. I’m funny). Right now I have the Edge of Spiderverse collection and Spider Gwen #1 & #3. I’ve been waiting for issue 2 for what feels like FOREVER. But once it comes in, it is GAME ON for me and this series. I actually read the first Spider-Verse issue – the Spider Noir one, and I really enjoyed it. That was officially my first “Superhero Comic” that I’ve ever read. eek! I know. I’m a total newb. Oh well, can’t stay that way forever!

So, there you have it. That’s my entire comic collection, plus every book I’ve acquired between January & April. I’m actually already off to a good start on Books for May – maybe I’ll end up with enough to justify a May Book Haul – that would be just lovely 🙂

How about that list of Kindle Reads, though? Anything in there that I should definitely pay attention to? I’m reading Ready Player One right now, but there’s a lot of good stuff floating on my Kindle that I had completely forgotten about!

Hi there! Today I just wanted to share a few things I’m completely obsessing over this week. I mean, it’s about time I live up to my name, right? I’ve been spending a lot of time just catching up on all the fandom amazingness I’ve missed over the last few weeks, so this week has been extra geeky & glorious so far. Check it out:

Art

I absolutely cannot get enough of Sibylline this week. I’ve been lurking my way through her shop since Monday, watching her process videos, and stalking her tumblr for updates. I’m enamored with her style & mesmerized by her videos. Just look at these gorgeous paintings of hers! Seriously, the Buffy print is going to end up in my house someday. And I would kill for the Spider-Gwen!!

Ahhhh. I love them ALL so, so much!

Books

These are the two books I asked my mom for as birthday gifts this year, and I cannot wait until I can hold them in my grubby little hands.

This GORGEOUS edition of The Neverending Story, which was one of my favorite films growing up. I’ve never read the book, but I’m fairly certain it will be the one to pull me out of my reading slump. I mean, who wouldn’t want to bury their nose in that?

Now here’s where I made a total rookie mistake. I was cruising Amazon because I knew I NEEDED this book when it was released. And I saw the paperback cover and fell in love. I was really surprised that Amazon still said it was being released on April 28, but it’s been so long since I’ve pre-ordered a hard copy of a book I just figured things had changed. I specifically asked for the paperback & now I realize it won’t be released for MONTHS. It’s time to decide – do I have my mom cancel her order & order the hardcover instead? Do I just get it from the library & wait for my paperback edition to add to my collection? Argh. I just want this one! Right now! [insert tantrum here]

Comics

Spider Gwen! I’ll be honest, I have not ACTUALLY read these yet, but that does not mean I’m not obsessing over them. I’ve been waiting for the Edge of Spiderverse trade to come in (it’s waiting for me at the comic shop now!! eeeeeek) and also trying to get my hands on a copy of issue #2 since I didn’t get the series added to my pull list in time. WOMP WOMP. Once those are in my hands, though, it’s on. That is all.

Also, I finally picked up Saga #27. This is getting read on Saturday ❤

Movies/ TV

Here’s a couple no-brainers:

Yeah, I’m completely geeking out about the Age of Ultron premiere tomorrow. I can’t stop watching interview footage. I’m going to die of happy when it’s over. It’s been nice knowing y’all.

Finished watching Daredevil last night & holy. shit. I can’t even find words to describe how I feel about this show. I might re-watch the whole thing & write up a full review. It was AMAZING.

DC TV: Flash & Arrow have been SO good lately. Seriously, is there anyone who wants to talk to me about last week’s episode of Arrow? Because I can’t stop thinking about how absolutely insane it was. My god.

Misc

Cold Brew Coffee. So, I’m a caffeine junkie. Let’s just get that out of the way. I cannot survive the day without a fix of espresso or energy drink. For the last year, I’ve been addicted to the Monster Zero Ultra energy drinks, but let’s be honest – you don’t really know what those things do to your body. I’ve been trying to go back to coffee, but I feel like it’s way more expensive & not as satisfying. Until now. My Starbuck’s/ coffee shop drink of choice has been an iced Americano for the last year and, while they’re not nearly as pricey as the sugary drinks, that’s still $4 for a Venti. Now I’ve discovered cold-brew coffee & it’s way better. Plus I can do it myself from home. I was gifted a jug of cold-brew Caribou coffee & it no joke tastes like chocolate coffee. Mix in a little ice & water and you have essentially a smoother, less acidic Americano. I’m all in.

I’m going to try & do these types of posts more regularly, so if there’s’ anything you think deserves highlighting, you better let me know so I can get obsessed with it 🙂

Until Next Time ❤

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#introductions

Hi! I'm Christa & I'm obsessed with pretty much everything. I love learning about new things & geeking out over life. I dream of vampires & unicorns. I have a storm trooper tattoo and a reading list that will last me the rest of my life. Also, I can't stop buying makeup. Let's be friends!